Seven criminals stole £600,000 but guess how much courts ordered each of them to pay back?

Seven crooks whose crimes netted them more than £600,000 have been forced to hand over less than a tenner by prosecutors.

Authorities have seized just £7 from the seven separate criminals in the last year. That’s despite legal chiefs admitting one of them made more than £400,000 in a crime spree while another pocketed £80,000.

Critics last night blasted the minuscule awards and said they failed to deter crooks from a life of crime.

Tory Alex Johnstone, right, said: “The idea of someone who’s made a living from crime paying back £1 to the taxpayer is beyond laughable.”

Former top cop and Scottish Labour justice spokesman Graeme Pearson added: “The time is right for a review of this legislation to sharpen it up.”

Proceeds of crime legislation was brought in 12 years ago to target previously “untouchable” crime lords and put an end to their lavish lifestyles. It allows the authorities to seize cash and property even without a criminal conviction.

Since its introduction, however, organised crime has remained a huge problem and is now estimated to be worth £1bn a year. In the last year prosecutors have used the law to take action against 189 crooks convicted of crimes like drug dealing, exploiting illegal immigrants and benefit fraud.

Overall they have been ordered to repay £4.5m from their criminal endeavours at special proceeds of crime hearings.

But in seven cases the authorities failed to trace any of the cash their targets stole despite a forensic examination of their finances. Their decision was to demand a nominal sum from each of them.

It means if any cash or assets are eventually uncovered by the Crown, the court can be asked to recalculate the confiscation order.

However MSP Johnstone claimed the tiny seizures make a mockery of the law.

He said: “The concept of the Proceeds of Crime Act are absolutely sound, and have our full support. Unfortunately, it is also utterly meaningless as long as such poor hit rates continue.

“It means criminals won’t take this legislation seriously, and that won’t deter would-be offenders from taking a similar path in future. But the biggest losers are the communities who were promised so much from this initiative, but seem to be getting short-changed.”

The seven who got away with paying next to nothing include convicted fraudster George Kalmar who the Crown seized £1 from in March. The former top banker embezzled almost £400,000 from customer accounts from global powerhouse Morgan Stanley over just five months. But baffled officials trying to recover the missing cash discovered the 39-year-old Scot had blown the sum on seedy entertainment, top London restaurants, drugs and prostitutes.

The Glaswegian had junior employees transfer money between accounts between September 2012 and February 2013 and pocketed the cash.

The Scot who his employer had previously been described as a brilliant banker and rising star in the finance world had been promoted to the vice president of Morgan Stanley’s European Settlement department. He was caught when bank bosses spotted sizeable amounts being transferred between accounts and large single payments of more than £70,000 to a number of bars and restaurants.

The bank probe ended when Kalmar returning from holiday admitted everything. Two employees were sacked and two resigned after the crimes came to light. He was sentenced to two years last November where he was described as “charismatic” by former colleagues. It means he could be out in just a few months’ time.

Former labourer Neil Primrose was given a rap on the knuckles in April after he was caught cheating the state out of £19,000 in benefits he wasn’t entitled to. The 53-year-old man from Wallyford, East Lothian, stashed away thousands in three different bank accounts despite being entitled to nothing. But after admitting his crimes in Haddington Sheriff Court he was ordered to carry out just 300 hours of unpaid community work and hand over £1.

Pearson added: “With crime costing Scotland £1bn, seizing £4.5m wouldn’t even equate to a tax bill for that amount of money.

“We need greater clarity into the sums and by that I mean how much is actually paid back to the state. We also need more powers for authorities to act quickly to seize assets. Criminals are not daft and will take the time taken for investigations to hide all their money before the Crown can get their hands on it.”

Besides Kalmar and Primrose the other £1 seizures were taken against Catherine McKenna, Paul Robertson, Graham Dunn, Laura Morris and Zohaib Ali.

A spokesman for the Crown Office said: “In cases where the accused has no assets, nominal orders for £1 preserve the Crown’s position, meaning that should the accused obtain any assets in the future we can apply to the court to amend the order up to their total level of their criminal benefit.”

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “The Proceeds of Crime Act is having a real impact on how Scotland’s prosecutors tackle criminality at every level.”

There is no indication as to how much has been paid back from the orders made last year under proceeds of crime legislation. Many criminals take years to pay back their dues if at all.

Crown’s tools to grab cash

Introduced in 2003, the Proceeds of Crime Act aimed to hit criminals where it hurt most in the pocket.

The Crown Office said the laws had become a “powerful tool” against crime and has recovered close to £100m The legislation allows two routes for the Crown through the criminal and civil courts.

Most of their seizures have been in the criminal courts, following a conviction. But they can also go after suspected criminals in the civil courts where they can seize their assets if they can prove they got them through dodgy dealings.

An estimated third of the £100m total has come via the civil courts. The cash snatched is then ploughed back into the communities ravaged by crime.